1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to musical instruments, and, more particularly, to illuminating musical instruments requiring particular finger or hand placement during operation such as string, percussion and wind instruments, so as to enhance eye and hand coordination; allow the instrument to be played in dark environments; and produce a pleasing aesthetic effect.
2. Description of Related Art
The ability to establish effective eye and hand coordination is one of the first obstacles faced by fledgling musicians. For example, stringed instruments such as guitars, mandolins and ukuleles, required that the musician precisely position his or her fingers at particular points along the fingerboard or neck of the instrument. More experienced or professional musicians typically accomplish this task without having to visually monitor their hand and finger motions; in contrast, beginning musicians fully depend on sight as an essential guide to developing proper techniques. However, all musicians, regardless of the level of experience, depend on sight when performing more challenging routines such as instrument solos and live performance.
One common approach that assists players of transverse stringed instruments is to position a plurality of raised ridges, commonly called frets, along the front face of the fingerboard. The individual strings of the instrument are stretched and extend along the fingerboard over the frets. In effect, the frets serve as reference points about which the musician can position his and her fingers to produce desired notes and chords.
As is generally known, musicians have a penchant for playing in subdued light. Typically, this creates an environment that impedes the musician's ability to visually gauge the proper placement of his or her fingers. Indeed, as regards beginning musicians, the inability to see where to be playing potentially handicaps the progress of learning proper techniques that can later affect performance and concentration or execution.
The prior art is replete with instruments and devices which purport to increase visibility of the guitar neck in dark surroundings. Generally, these instruments and devices provide for either the uniform illumination of the entire fingerboard area, or illumination of predetermined sections or portions thereof. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,768 issued to the commonly named inventor, discloses a fiber optic strand which provides multiple illuminated points of light along the top surface of the guitar neck. U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,815 issued to Clifford W. Gilbert, discloses fiber optic strands extending through the neck, conducting light through a source located in the body, to illuminate thread markers on the top and threaded surfaces of the guitar neck. U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,755 issued to Lewis Leon Canonico, discloses the guitar having an illuminated neck made of transparent plastic. U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,370 issued to Stanley Sapinski, discloses a fingerboard having light transmitting substraight received in a space between the neck and fingerboard.
All of the prior patents are for illuminating a guitar neck in one manner or another. Generally they are effective for illuminating purposes, but are costly and many require physical alternations to the neck upon installation. In addition, as regards the prior art involving a guitar neck made of transparent plastic, although they tend to conduct light well, they are very heavy in weight, look unappealing, and are very costly in price.
The main problem with the prior systems is that although they generally illuminate guitar necks or fingerboards they do not further particularly illuminate the specific area of contact between a musician's fingers and a fingerboard. This limitation in the prior art is significant because by particularly illuminating a specific area of contact the musician is better able to appreciate the exact positioning of his or her fingers.
Thus, what is needed in the art is a low cost, lightweight, fingerboard illuminator system that provides adequate distribution of light, and enhanced illumination of the particular area of contact between the musician's fingers and the fingerboard. In addition, the illuminator must be easily installed and removed without altering the original condition of the guitar neck while providing minimal obstructive resistance along the guitar neck and body.
While the prior art sets forth various methodologies for illuminating the guitar neck or fingerboard, no prior art is known that provides, either separately or in combination, the teaching or suggestions, or incentive, to make a low cost guitar neck illuminator that provides general illumination for visual reference purposes, and particular illumination of the area of contact between finger and fingerboard, while being light in weight, functional, removable, and not obstructive to the musicians hands.